Secrets of the Past Come Back to Haunt You
by Spike868
Summary: This idea sprouted from a conversation with a friend of mine. Buffy is in England after Sunnydale was destroyed and some figures from the past show up. R&R please. I haven't posted in a while, so tell me what you think.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Secrets of the Past Come Back to Haunt You

Rating: M just to be sure

Warning: Mild coarse language, low/moderate level violence

888

**Chapter One**

It was an ordinary Saturday night on the town for Buffy, Xander, Willow and Kennedy. The English nightlife was alive with underground clubs, bars and restaurants open into the early hours of the morning.

At close to 2am Sunday morning, Willow and Kennedy decided to leave Buffy and Xander and walked back home to their cosy little apartment. Xander agreed to walk Buffy home half an hour later, after finishing his beer.

"Come on, I'll make sure you get home safe Buff." He slurred drunkenly, swaying slightly as he stepped down from the bar stool.

"I think I'm more worried about _you_ getting home safely." Buffy chuckled. "I think you've had one too many of those tall frosty friends of yours."

"Nah Buff, you can never have too many." Xander cracked, laughing as he patted Buffy on the back and led her outside. Buffy shook her head and allowed herself to be led out, knowing that she was almost fully sober having drunken next to nothing to whole night. Something was troubling her.

Maybe it was that Dawn wasn't doing so well at University. Her marks had begun to slip since she convinced Buffy to allow her to go patrolling sometimes to give Buffy the night off. This was one of those nights.

It wasn't a bad thing for Buffy to be worried. Not at all. After all, Dawn was still her younger sister. That meant Buffy was obligated to protect her and make sure she was doing her best at University at the same time. She felt bad leaving Dawn alone out there with all those nasty things that go 'bump' in the night.

"Xander, why don't I take you home instead? I think I might go and see how Dawn's doing out on patrol before I head home."

"Suit yourself Buffy, but are you sure you don't want me to come with?"

"No, it's ok." Buffy smiled weakly. Xander just nodded and continued to stagger down the path until they reached his apartment building. "You go inside and I'll see you at work tomorrow." Buffy paused. "I mean, today..."

Xander couldn't help but to burst into laughter. "Oh, Buffy." He chuckled. "Good ol' Buff."

"Goodnight Xander." Buffy was too tired to be bothered with any of Xander's nonsense anymore. She'd dealt with it all night – sober – but couldn't do it any longer.

"Night Buffy. Make sure you get home safe, okay?" He turned serious for a few moments to ensure his friend was safe. When she nodded, Xander stepped inside the building and shut the door tightly behind him, sliding the lock shut.

Buffy sighed and moved on.

Every second street light along the way seemed to be out, but it didn't bother Buffy. She wasn't worried by darkness, but she knew what was quite possibly lurking deep within it. And it wasn't before long that she had a taste of that-which-lurked-within.

The snarling got her attention first, tipping her off to something else being nearby. She stopped under a working street light and looked around warily.

There was nothing. The dim light cast a shadow only a few metres from where she stood, and it was just enough to hide whatever seemed to be following her.

"Come out of the shadows, I'm not afraid of you." Buffy said loudly, constantly checking over her shoulder as she spun on the spot, scanning her surroundings as she squinted into the darkness.

Again there was nothing. Not a single sound of movement; no heavy breathing or footsteps. Did she dare move?

One step was enough movement to allow her stalker to jump out of the shadows and strike. In a swift sideways tackle, Buffy was knocked to the ground. Landing on her left shoulder painfully hard, Buffy rolled over and picked herself up. Looking around, she saw nobody.

_What on earth_?

She took a single step up from the road to the footpath and was tackled again from out of the shadows. This time, she saw the creature coming towards her yet was unable to respond before she was hit to the ground again.

Now lying on her back, Buffy looked up at what was pinning her down. It was the usual; a vampire. Female. Brunette. Relatively short. Buffy took hold of the vampire's shoulders and pushed her off, kicking up at the same time. Buffy jumped to her feet and assumed a fighter's stance, observing the woman standing before her.

There was something different about her. How old could she be? No older than 20, and she still had an old-fashioned hair style placing her back as far as the 1920's, to the best of Buffy's knowledge. But that wasn't it; that wasn't all. There was something else...

It didn't matter so much; she was still a vampire which meant that Buffy had to slay her. Leaping forward, Buffy made the next move. She kicked out at the vampire, who blocked the kick and threw a hard punch. It missed as Buffy ducked and barged her in the stomach. She staggered back and hit the wall of a nearby building, regaining her footing and charging again.

Buffy had a punch ready up her sleeve, throwing it as soon as the timing was right. It swiftly connected with the vampire's left temple, earning a sharp cry of pain. The response was a well-timed roundhouse kick which made Buffy double-over. She swung a fist again, missed and received a hard punch to her jaw.

"That's quite a punch you got there." She commented. The vampire just smirked, and lunged again.

After only just a few more minutes of the fight, Buffy found herself overpowered by the vampire. She had a surprising amount of strength, and seemed to be unleashing it all on Buffy. Tired from a long night out, Buffy wasn't prepared for such strength.

Pinned to the road, Buffy looked up at the vampire as she felt a hand press against her throat. Gasping for breath, she found that she couldn't shake lose the vampire sitting on her stomach.

Stars began dotting in front of her eyes and in one last burst of effort as she felt she was about to pass out, Buffy brought her knee up hard to hit the vampire in the side. It hardly worked, only making her flinch.

Looking into the golden eyes of the woman, Buffy watched as she moved down closer. She whispered softly, "I can make you like me. I can make you immortal." She snarled and opened her mouth wide.

Buffy felt powerless. She was tired after a stressful past few days. She simply wasn't up to a full-on fight like this one. Could it prove to be her last?

Buffy could feel the vampire's unnecessary breathing on her neck; aimed simply to antagonize her as she knew the end was coming. This one vampire would finally be the one to "do away with the Slayer". _The_ Slayer, the one who was meant to be the only Slayer; the original.

Suddenly, out of nowhere two hands grabbed each of the vampire's arms and flung her backwards merely seconds before she sunk her teeth into Buffy's flesh. Looking up, Buffy couldn't make out the two figures clearly, but felt a strange sensation of a strong connection with both. She knew their scent; knew their presence.

She could make out a struggle between the three, with one being kicked square in the face, staggering backwards and tripping over the edge of the gutter. He landed on his back beside Buffy with an, "oomph".

"Buffy." Spike said hoarsely, holding the bridge of his nose as he looked to his right. As Buffy's vision returned she could make out blood trickling out of his right nostril.

"A little help... would be nice..." Came a struggled voice. Looking over, Buffy saw Angel with one of the vampire's hands wrapped around his chin and another atop his head, ready to snap his neck.

"Oh, right." Spike leapt to Angel's aid, kneeing her in the back making her loosen her grip on Angel, who slipped free. He helped Buffy to her feet and left Spike to dance with the vampire.

A small fist fight broke out between the two, with Spike ending up being the punching bag. Soon, he was grabbed by his coat and thrown forcefully into the wall. He slammed hard into the brickwork, slumping on the ground at the vampire's feet. She kicked him a few times while he was down, receiving heavy grunts and cries of pain.

Angel stepped in at this point, grabbing her from behind and restraining her. "Buffy! Stake!" He shouted, turning around so the vampire's chest was exposed to Buffy.

Stepping forward, Buffy pulled a stake out from inside her jacket and approached. She raised it and prepared to shove it into the vampire's chest, only to stop as the vampire spoke to her.

"You don't know who I am, do you?"

"You're dead, I know that much, bitch." Spike snarled, spitting blood to the ground as he climbed to his feet. Buffy ignored her comment and prepared to stake her. However, she was taken by surprise as the vampire threw back her head suddenly, hitting Angel's nose and causing him to stagger back and be struck with a swift elbow shot to his ribs.

The vampire ducked a punch from Buffy and dove for the ground, rolling out of the fight before getting up and looking back at the three well-known fighters.

"This isn't over." She snarled before disappearing into the shadows.

Buffy, Spike and Angel exchanged glances. "Who was that?" Buffy asked.

"Long story." Was Angel's simple response. "Can we go somewhere to talk? I know it's late, but you're gonna wanna hear this."

"Sure." Buffy sighed. "It's not like I have anything better to do. Like sleep..."

"Giles might wanna be in on this too." Spike added.

"Come on, I'll take you to the Council." Buffy told them. "Welcome to England. Again."

888

Author's Note: this was a random idea I had whilst talking with a fellow Buffy fan and good friend of mine. Feedback is much appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Inside his small cottage on the grounds of the newly founded Watcher's Council, Giles lay awake in his bed. He thought it would be wise to be close to the Council chambers in case of an emergency, and just to keep an eye on things.

A knock at the front door startled him. Climbing out of bed, he grabbed his glasses, dressing gown and put on his slippers then shuffled downstairs. He slid a latch across and pulled open a small square section of the wooden door. Peering out he saw Buffy, with Spike and Angel standing behind her.

He closed the "peephole", unlocked another latch and opened the door with a loud creak. He needed to oil those bloody hinges.

"Good morning." Giles greeted the threesome in a drowsy, yet friendly manner. "What brings you here at this time of the night?"

"A vampire attacked me." Buffy stated simply; she was clearly exhausted. Giles stepped aside and allowed them in, closing and locking the door behind them.

"Is that something out of the ordinary?" he mocked, following them through to the living room.

"She's not _just_ an ordinary vamp, Rupert." Spike began. "There's something else you need to know about her."

"And what might that be?"

"Well, vampire is only _half_ of who she is." Angel stepped in. He paused, exchanging glances with Giles and Buffy. "The other half of her is Slayer."

Giles' eyes went wide, as did Buffy's; she was unaware until now. "_Excuse_ _me_?" Giles stuttered. "Did you say Slayer?"

"Yeah." Angel didn't seem phased by the idea much.

"How? I mean, you said she was a vampire."

"She is. And she's a Slayer too." Spike continued. "Or rather, she _was_ a Slayer. She's obviously dead now."

"This is... unheard of." Giles commented, removing his glasses. "Never in all my years of being a Watcher have I head stories of a Vampire Slayer who was _also_ a vampire. This is unbelievable..."

"Well believe it Giles because we know that she is." Angel said. "We've been following her for over two months now after she led us to believe there was something more to her than _just_ being a vampire. Her name is Ruby, and we believe she was turned in 1946. That's the last time we found any trace of her during our research. We've been tracking her since the night she attacked us both in New York, right up until tonight when she attacked Buffy."

"I see. And why, might I ask, did this _Ruby_ attack both of you? What reason does she have to come after you?"

"Think about it Giles, she's a vampire-Vampire Slayer. She is quite possibly the strongest thing alive." Angel pointed out. "What if she were to be persuaded by some evil mastermind somewhere to join forces and combine their power to strive for something they both want? And trust me when I say that is _not_ good."

"I'm not stupid Angel, I do know what this means. But I also know that if she is a Slayer, then some part of her must still be good. It's like you having a soul, there is a good part of you inside, you just have to draw it to the surface and keep it there. Obviously, the vampire side of this woman is the dominant, or she has _let_ it become her dominant persona..."

"Giles, that may be the case but she's a liability. Do we claim her as ours as a Slayer and try to help her, or do we treat her as if she were _just_ a vampire and kill her?"

"It's a tough decision to make but we've got to work it out. We obviously can't just let her run about out there by herself. She's a dangerous creature and she could kill for whatever reasons she wanted."

"We've got to find her before she gets herself into too much trouble then." Spike stated. "It she's a danger, we've got to catch her."

"Agreed." Giles said. "But what exactly are we going to do about her? I mean, we're going to bring her in, I assume, alive?"

"If possible, yes." Angel replied.

"Well how are we going to do that?" Buffy asked. "You both saw how strong she is, and you know first-hand what she's like to fight against. How are we supposed to capture her?"

There was a short silence before Spike suggested, "Set up a trap."

"What kind of trap?" Angel queried.

"I don't know; I'm not a genius. I do know that she'll figure out where we are eventually... I mean, she's come all this way to England for a reason right? And my guess is it has something to do with us and Buffy. Why else would she come to us first and get our attention?" Spike paused to see if the others would understand what he was saying. "She _wanted_ us to follow her. She wanted us to come to England and follow her, where she then attacked Buffy to bring us together."

"This bitch has a plan..." Angel concluded. "What on earth could she want with the three of us?" There was a pause.

"My guess is to wipe us out." Buffy answered Angel's question. "Look at us; we're the fighting elite of the supernatural world. Two vampires with souls and a Slayer; if she wipes us out then the leaders of what has been called "The Revolution" will be gone. All that will be left are the new Slayers, most of whom are relatively untrained and unskilled, particularly in battle. We are the ones responsible for training them, and if we're gone who's going to do it?"

"That's a good point Buffy, but Spike and Angel are not the ones here training the girls." Giles pointed out. "It's you and me and all of the others; Xander, Willow, Kennedy. Even Dawn. So Spike and Angel don't exactly fit into your assumption."

"But what about us being the "Big Three" or whatever? Without us, there'll be no strong leaders among the group to help the girls out if they need it. _That's_ what I mean. Spike and Angel are there if they're needed, and I'm _always_ here helping out. If this woman gets rid of the three of us then there's no one left; nobody to lead them."

"They have me as well Buffy, and the others."

"That's not what I mean Giles. They need a Champion to lead them. That's either me or one of them." She gestured to Spike and Angel who had made themselves comfortable. Spike was leaning against a wall and Angel sat on the arm of a chair.

"Well then we need to get to her before she gets to us, or at least be prepared for when she comes." Angel got to his feet. "She wouldn't risk coming to the Watcher's Council, so where else could she strike?"

A few moments of silence allowed for thought. "My house." Buffy quickly realised. "I bet you _anything_ she will go to my house. She's probably waiting there now for me to unsuspectingly return home where she'll strike..."

"Uh Buffy, didn't you say Dawn was out patrolling for you tonight?" Giles asked.

"Yeah." Buffy replied, before working out what Giles was suggesting. "Oh God, you don't think she'd wait for Dawn do you?" An expression of shock mixed with concern crossed Buffy's face. "We've got to go there. We have to; I've got to make sure Dawn is all right."

"We'll go with you." Angel looked to Spike, who nodded. He had picked himself up from leaning against the wall and took a step towards Buffy, placing a reassuring hand on her arm.

"Don't worry about Dawn, Buffy. She'll be okay. We'll make sure of it." Buffy smiled, but felt uncertain.

"We'll call you later okay Giles?" Buffy said as a goodbye.

"All right. Go now and make sure Dawn got home safely. We'll sort this out later." Giles led them back out to the front door, unlatching it and pulling it open forcefully. He looked at Buffy as she left behind Spike and Angel. "Don't worry too much." He told her. "Just keep telling yourself she'll be fine."

'I won't believe it until I see it." She replied, forcing a weak smile of appreciation anyway. "See you later Giles. We've got to go..."

Giles watched them wander down the path to the main road through the Council grounds before closing the door and locking it. Just for his personal safety, he slid the second latch shut.

A/N: Hmm... Not many reviews for this... FanFiction seems to be getting less and less popular... Well, please review this anyway. Feedback and constructive criticism are always appreciated. But please, no flames.


End file.
